


A Different Kind of Brave

by acclaimedwriter



Category: Casualty (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acclaimedwriter/pseuds/acclaimedwriter
Summary: Finding out about Alicia’s rape, rocked Duffy to the core. A few gentle words of encouragement from Charlie, makes Duffy realise there are different categories of brave. (Set during the time Eddie raped Alicia and it became public knowledge)
Relationships: Lisa "Duffy" Duffin/Charlie Fairhead
Kudos: 5





	A Different Kind of Brave

They were sat on the sofa together, Duffy’s head resting in Charlie’s lap, her hair sprawled out everywhere. They had been sat like that for the past forty minutes but neither of them had spoken. The silence between them only made Charlie worry more about what was going on inside Duffy’s mind.

Charlie’s hand ran through her hair, his fingertips untangling the knots she had. He allowed the silence to grow before sighing sadly when he heard her sniffle gently. 

“Oh sweetheart, I’d wish you’d talk to me.” 

Over the last four days, she’d barely said a word. Barely spoken, hardly ate and Charlie didn’t know how to get her to open up. He knew the more he tried to encourage her to open up, the more he’d find himself against the barriers she’d put up to protect herself. 

“I wish I was as brave as Alicia.” She whispered quietly. It tormented her that Alicia was able to do all the things she couldn’t. Alicia was able to admit to herself that she was raped, she was able to go to the police and she was able to face Eddie in court. 

“You are.” Charlie reassured, his hand moving from her hair to rub her lower back gently.

Duffy’s body began to shake as she shook her head frantically and burst into tears. 

“Alicia didn’t lie to herself, not like I did.”

Charlie knew it took Duffy a long time to admit to herself she’d been raped. She’d pretended for so long that it didn’t happen, a desperate attempt to stop her memories of him from consuming her. 

“You had your reasons.” 

“I was weak.” 

“You were scared.”

“I was weak and pathetic!” She played with the ends of her sleeves. She never expected it to be this hard when she learnt Alicia was raped, she never thought she’d be haunted by her memories of him. Feeling him all over her body again, remembering how painful it was when he held her down and raped her. 

Duffy pushed herself up from the sofa and dashed to the bathroom. Charlie followed as he heard her throw up. Holding back her hair, he didn’t speak. Nothing he’d say would erase the memories that were suffocating her.

He’d expected this to happen. He knew she’d find it hard to suppress her memories from that night. He just wished he could do something to make her feel better, to take away her pain.

“She was everything I could never be.”

“You’re a different kind of brave.” He told her gently, “and for that I love you more.”

Duffy lifted her head up from the toilet seat and looked at Charlie. As their eyes met, she faintly smiled.

“You really mean that don’t you?”

He nodded as he reached out to gently caress her cheek, wiping away the tears.

“You and Alicia are similar. You may not have done everything she did but you both refuse to let it define you and that, Duffy Fairhead, makes you very brave indeed.”

She held his gaze, the tiniest hint of a smile on her lips. Maybe Charlie was right, maybe she was a different kind of brave.


End file.
